The U.S. House on Wednesday supported a bill aimed at increasing long-term investment in Haiti's textile and apparel markets. This is the latest of several moves to help the embattled nation recover from the January 12 earthquake.

The bill increases the types of products that Haiti can export duty free to the United States. Expanding the trade preferences should triple its duty-free access for knits and woven fabrics and would extend the benefits through 2020 – essentially expanding a trade program which had helped in Haiti’s economic recovery prior to the earthquake.

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Opposition

Portia Simpson Miller

A confession from the ruling Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) on Tuesday that its members approached the U.S. law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, according to the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP), has raised more questions than answers.

Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller on Wednesday requested that Prime Minister Bruce Golding “come clean” about the Manatt Phelps and Phillips controversy, saying the JLP’s attempt to resolve the issue has further muddied the water, leaving people more confused.

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Following months of agonizing wait, Air Jamaica staff finally got news of their status as the Jamaican national airline changes over to new owner, Caribbean Airlines of Trinidad & Tobago.

The news, however, was bitter-sweet.

At a Kingston press conference on Wednesday, Air Jamaica’s chairman, Dennis Lalor, announced that all 1,500 members of staff of the airline will be made redundant as of April 30, the day before Caribbean Airlines assumes ownership. However, the staff will receive severance pay amounting to J$2.4 billion (US$24 million), scheduled to be made on April 30.

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Prime Minister Bruce Golding is coming under fire from the Opposition People’s National Party for fingering the United States as a contributor to the worsening crime in Jamaica.

Peter Bunting, the opposition spokesman on national security, on Wednesday accused Golding of passing the buck when he blamed the U.S. for not adequately addressing the flow of illegal guns into the island and called the move by Golding “hypocrisy”.

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